Clutch disk for a motor vehicle

ABSTRACT

A clutch disk ( 10 ) for a motor vehicle includes at least two axially opposed friction linings ( 18 ), a lining spring ( 16 ) and a drive carrier disk ( 14 ), wherein the lining spring ( 16 ) has at least one fastening portion ( 16   a ), a supporting portion ( 16   b ) and a plurality of spring segments ( 16   c ) arranged adjacent to one another in circumferential direction, and the spring segments ( 16   c ) are arranged radially outside at the supporting portion ( 16   b ) of the lining spring ( 16 ), and the fastening portion ( 16   a ) is arranged radially inside at the supporting portion ( 16   b ).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a clutch disk for a motor vehicleand to a lining spring for a clutch disk of this type.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

DE 102 38 365 A1 the entire content of which is incorporated herein byreference, discloses a clutch disk with a plurality of lining springs.The lining spring has two spring segments which are connected to oneanother via a web running along a surface of a drive carrier disk.Fastening openings which serve for fixedly connecting to the drivecarrier disk are formed inside the web. Each of the spring segments isconnected via rivets to two axially opposed friction disks. The springsegments are connected to a fastening portion forming the fasteningopenings along only a relatively narrow supporting portion which formspart of the web. The supporting portion which is only narrow receiveshigh loads. Torques occurring at the clutch disk additionally causecorresponding torsional forces which must be absorbed by the liningsprings arranged in the center between two spring windows.

Further, DE 195 29 074 C1 the entire content of which is incorporatedherein by reference, shows a clutch disk with another lining spring.This lining spring is likewise connected to a drive carrier disk viafastening openings and cooperates with the friction linings via springsegments. The connection of the spring segments to the fastening portionis substantially wider in circumferential direction and is thereforemore stable. The spring segments have different bending shapes in orderto realize different axial forces.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a clutchdisk with an improved lining spring.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a clutch disk for a motor vehiclewhich comprises at least two axially opposed friction linings, at leastone lining spring and a drive carrier disk. The friction linings arearranged axially at both sides of the lining spring. They can beconstructed, for example, so as to be circularly or annularly closed.The lining spring is advantageously fastened to the drive carrier diskand is arranged radially outside of the drive carrier disk. The frictionlinings are also advantageously arranged radially outside of the drivecarrier disk. In particular, the friction linings and the drive carrierdisk are constructed such that there is no radial overlap. The frictionlinings preferably overlap in radial direction at least with springsegments of the lining spring. A plurality of lining springs extendingin circumferential direction is advantageously arranged radiallyoutwardly at the drive carrier disk.

Further, the clutch disk advantageously has a torsion damper for whichthe drive carrier disk serves as input element. The drive carrier diskis operatively connected to an output element, in particular side platesof the clutch disk, via spring elements.

A lining spring has a fastening portion, a supporting portion and aplurality of spring segments arranged adjacent to one another incircumferential direction.

The fastening portion, or fastening portions, serves to fasten thelining spring to the drive carrier disk. At least one fastening openingcorrelating to an opening of the drive carrier disk is advantageouslyformed at the fastening portion in order to provide a fixed connectionvia a fastening element, particularly a rivet.

The spring segments enable an axial relative movement of the frictionlinings with respect to one another and provide a force characteristicwhich rises in a progressive manner. The friction linings are arrangedaxially on both sides of the spring segment. In a particularlyadvantageous manner, a friction lining is fixedly connected to at leastone spring segment via fastening element, in particular one or morerivets. The spring segments advantageously have a plurality of workingportions which are formed so as to be axially offset relative to oneanother and serve as abutting surfaces for the friction linings.Accordingly, a bending portion located between two working portionsfirst takes effect when the working surfaces come into abutting contactwith contact surfaces of the friction linings.

The spring segments are further connected to the fastening portions viaat least one supporting portion. In particular, the supporting portionis formed between a spring segment and a fastening portion. All of thespring segments are advantageously arranged at the same supportingportion. In addition, the spring segments are advantageously arrangedradially outside of the fastening portions. The friction liningspreferably overlap the spring segments completely in radial direction.In other words, the spring portions are completely covered axially bythe friction linings.

It is proposed that the lining spring has at least three springsegments.

The spring segments are advantageously formed adjacent to one another incircumferential direction at the lining spring. In particular, a cutoutwhich advantageously runs in radial direction is formed between thespring segments. This radial direction effectively separates the springsegments from one another so that adjacent spring segments do notmutually influence one another substantially during an axial compressionof the lining spring. Accordingly, the spring segments can supplydifferent spring forces independently of one another.

A spring segment can be arranged, for example, radially outside of afastening portion. Alternatively, a spring segment is arrangedexclusively radially outside of a spring window at a supporting portionand is formed between two fastening portions in circumferentialdirection.

In a further embodiment, the spring force of a spring segment located inthe center in circumferential direction is greater than the spring forceof a spring segment located on the outside in circumferential direction.

In particular, a spring force of all of the spring segments located inthe center is greater in each instance than the spring force of the twospring segments located on the outside in circumferential direction. Inthis respect, the spring forces or spring constants of a plurality ofspring segments located in the center may also differ. In particular,the introduction of force into the lining spring is improved in thisway. With a force characteristic rising in a progressive manner duringan axial compression of the lining spring, the spring segments or evenindividual bending portions can take effect in ascending order startingwith that having the smallest spring constant.

It is further proposed that initially a spring segment located on theoutside in circumferential direction acts on the lining spring,subsequently the other spring segment located on the outside incircumferential direction acts on the lining spring and, after thelatter, a spring segment located on the inside in circumferentialdirection acts on the lining spring.

A torsional effect on the lining spring through the force introducedproceeding from the friction linings can be improved in this way. Inparticular, the spring segments located on the outside incircumferential direction are connected via the supporting portionsubstantially directly and by the shortest path to the fasteningportions, where initially occurring forces can be optimally absorbed bythe drive carrier disk and the fastening portion. If the center springsegment were to act first, the load on the supporting portion in theform of a torsional effect would be substantially greater. Accordingly,stresses occurring within the lining spring in particular can beeffectively reduced or minimized.

According to a further embodiment, it is advisable that every springsegment has at least a first working portion and a second workingportion for contacting the axially opposed friction linings, which firstworking portion and second working portion form an axial workingdistance relative to one another, and an axial working distance of aspring segment located on the inside in circumferential direction isless than that of a spring segment located on the outside incircumferential direction.

The working portions serve as abutting portions or abutting surfaces forthe friction linings. In particular, these are also designated asworking surfaces. They are axially offset relative to one another so asto provide a working distance or a compression path for the frictionlinings arranged axially on opposite sides at the lining spring. Theworking distance is preferably provided by a bending portion between thetwo associated working surfaces. In particular, a spring segment canhave a plurality of bending portions with the same working distances orwith different working distances. In this respect, the order of actioncan possibly also be considered in direction of the bending portionsinstead of the spring segments.

During an axial compression, the friction lining can contact itsassociated working portion of the spring segment already from the outsetor can contact it over the course of the axial compression. As thecompression continues, the working portions at the respective springsegment move toward one another in axial direction to apply a springforce via bending portions or bending edges located therebetween.

Initially, the spring segments with the largest working distance act onthe lining spring, and the spring segments with the smaller workingportions engage by degrees to provide a spring force. In a particularlyadvantageous manner, the spring segments located on the outside incircumferential direction have the largest working distance betweentheir first working portion and second working portion so that they actfirst, particularly before a spring segment arranged in the center incircumferential direction. The above-mentioned advantages are achievedin this way.

In an advantageous manner, fastening openings for fastening a frictionlining are formed only at one individual spring segment of the liningspring.

The fastening openings are advantageously formed particularly at theworking portions at the spring segment whose working portions have thegreatest working distance. In particular, at least one fastening openingis, advantageously two fastening openings are, formed at the firstworking portion for a first friction lining. Also, at least onefastening opening is, advantageously two fastening openings are, formedat the second working portion for the second friction lining. Thefastening openings are used for fastening elements, particularly a rivetwhich fixedly connects the friction lining to the respective workingportion of the spring segment. A fastening of the friction lining bythis small quantity of rivets and at only one spring segment iscompletely sufficient because they merely provide a holding function. Assoon as the clutch is closed and the friction linings are accordinglyacted upon axially opposite the lining spring, the normal forceincreases so that the friction serves for, and also suffices for, asecure fastening, in particular a fixed arrangement in circumferentialdirection at the respective spring segment.

In addition, by using a small quantity of fastening openings forfastening the friction linings to the lining spring, particularly toonly one individual spring segment, the options for configuring thefurther spring segments are substantially increased.

It is further proposed that at least one fastening opening is formed atthe first working surface of the spring segment and a fastening openingis formed at the second working surface of the spring segment.

The fastening openings are advantageously formed at the spring segmentat which the working surfaces have the greatest working distance.

Accordingly, the friction linings or friction lining are not axiallypreloaded or deformed in a wavy manner by adjacent spring segments. Thefriction linings substantially retain their circular shape at the clutchdisk.

It is further proposed that a bending line of the spring segment extendsin radial direction.

In particular, this radially extending bending line is formed at thespring segment with the fastening openings for the friction linings.During an axial compression, the fastening openings at the first workingportion of the spring segment are displaced in circumferential directioncompared with the fastening openings at the second working portion.Accordingly, during the compression of the lining spring the fasteningopenings remain on the radius thereof. In particular, a radial clampingof one of the friction linings is effectively prevented in this way.Bending line extending substantially in radial direction.

A radially extending cutout is advantageously formed between two springsegments which are arranged adjacent to one another in circumferentialdirection.

This radially extending cutout makes it possible to effectively separatethe spring portions from one another so that when one of the springsegments is compressed, the adjacent spring segments are not affected,for example, preloaded.

In a further embodiment, the end of the cutout on the supporting portionside is drop-shaped, and the drop shape is flat at a circumferentialside and relatively bulge-shaped at the opposite circumferential side.

In particular the drop shape is formed asymmetrically. In other words,one circumferential side has a large radius and the oppositecircumferential side has a relatively smaller radius. The radius candecrease or increase continuously along a contour of the drop shape ofthe cutout. The contour of the drop-shaped cutout extends continuouslyin a substantially circular basic contour with variable circle radius.

A torsional force acts on a spring segment in circumferential directionand a spring force acts on the spring segment in axial direction, bothforces being introduced into the lining spring through the frictionlinings. This torsional load and spring load lead to increased stresses,particularly at a bending line of the spring portion and at the ends ofthe cutout on the supporting portion side. As a result of the dropshape, stress-related load points of the spring portions in particularare displaced away from one another proceeding from the torsion and thebending line so that the bending load is distributed substantiallybetter over a larger area at the end of the cutout on the supportingportion side as a result of the drop shape.

In a particularly advantageous manner, a spring segment has bendinglines extending substantially radially or in circumferential direction.A bending line can also be formed so as to extend obliquely, diagonally,or radially and in circumferential direction. The bending lines may beformed in a straight line or circularly, inter alia.

In particular, the friction lining can be prevented from clamping by theradially extending bending lines. Bending lines extending incircumferential direction allow higher spring forces, and circularlyextending bending lines exert a comparatively higher spring constant orhigher spring force than with straight bending lines.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the lining spring is treated by aheat setting process so that the individual spring segments do notsettle further or settle only minimally over the life of the liningspring and the spring force remains essentially unchanged.

In addition, a lining spring for a clutch disk according to one ofclaims 1 to 9 or at least one of the further embodiments in thedescription is suggested.

Additional variants of the lining spring are discussed in the following.

It is suggested that the supporting portion running in circumferentialdirection extends between two fastening portions.

The supporting portion accordingly forms a radial connection between thespring segments and the fastening portions and a connection extending incircumferential direction between the fastening portions themselves.When a plurality of fastening portions are used, two of the fasteningportions are arranged at the respective circumferential end of thelining spring in a particularly advantageous manner. This isparticularly advantageous because an improved support of the drivecarrier disk is carried out in this way. In particular, the forcesintroduced into the friction linings are better absorbed by the liningspring as a result of arranging the fastening portions so as to bespaced apart circumferentially. In particular, the resistance of thelining spring relative to impinging torsional loads is substantiallyreduced.

In a particularly advantageous manner, the drive carrier disk has aspring window, and the supporting portion is arranged radially outwardlyat the spring window, or the two fastening portions are arrangedopposite one another in circumferential direction at the spring window.

The lining spring is substantially formed so as to run along the springwindow radially outwardly and in circumferential direction. The liningspring covers a relatively large angular area on the clutch disk, andthe fastening portions are spaced far apart from one another incircumferential direction. The strength and stability of the liningspring is substantially improved in this way. In particular, torsionalaction on the lining spring is substantially reduced and the forcesbrought about are introduced and distributed uniformly over the drivecarrier disk.

In a particular embodiment, a fastening portion has at least two,particularly four, fastening openings for receiving a fastening element.

On the one hand, this facilitates the introduction of force into thedrive carrier disk; on the other hand, a reliable transmission isensured. In particular, it can happen that a fastening element, forexample, a rivet, comes loose during operation and accordingly loses itsfastening function. Therefore, the use of a plurality of fasteningelements provides greater redundancy.

The spring window of the drive carrier disk is preferably boundedradially outwardly by a web, and the supporting portion of the liningspring covers the web at least partially in radial direction.

The supporting portion of the lining spring is arranged axiallylaterally of, or at an axial surface of, the drive carrier disk. Thesupporting portion abuts the web and an axial load or an axiallyintroduced force through the friction linings on the lining spring canbe better supported in this way and can be conducted to the drivecarrier disk. In this respect, it is advantageous that the overlappingof the supporting portion with the web is particularly extensive.

Further, it is suggested that the supporting portion overlaps the web byat least fifty percent, by two thirds, or completely. The supportingaction is further improved in this way. Accordingly, in particular, thelining spring cannot sag axially.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The clutch disk and the lining spring will be described in detail withreference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a clutch disk in cross section;

FIG. 2 shows a drive carrier disk with a plurality of lining springsfrom the clutch disk in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 3B is an enlarged view of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 shows a lining spring according to FIG. 3B; and

FIG. 5 shows an axial arrangement of working portions of the liningspring from FIG. 4 relative to one another.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a clutch disk 10 with a torsion damper 12 in cross section.The clutch disk 10 has a drive carrier disk 14, a plurality of liningsprings 16 and two friction linings 18. As regards its basicconstruction, the clutch disk 10 corresponds to the embodiments, alreadyknown, for clutch disks with torsion dampers. The torsion damper 12 isoptional.

The drive carrier disk 14 and the lining springs 16 are shown again in atop view in FIG. 2. FIG. 3A shows an enlarged view of FIG. 2. Fivelining springs 16 are fixedly connected at the drive carrier disk 14 viafastening elements, particularly rivets 20.

The lining spring 16 has a fastening portion 16 a, a supporting portion16 b and a plurality of spring segments 16 c. The fastening portionserves to fasten the lining spring 16 to the drive carrier disk 14. Inthis embodiment, the lining spring 16 has two fastening portions 16 a,each of which forms four fastening openings 22. The fastening elements20 extend through the fastening openings 22 of the lining spring andcorresponding fastening openings of the drive carrier disk 14. Throughthe use of four fastening elements or rivets 20, enhanced securityagainst failure and, in addition, a better distribution of the forceintroduced on the drive carrier disk is achieved.

The fastening portions 16 a are arranged in each instance radiallyinwardly at the lining spring 16 at the circumferential ends, andfastening portions 16 a overlap with the drive carrier disk 14. Further,the fastening portions 16 a are formed at the lining spring 16 so as tobe adjacent on the circumference side to a spring window 24 of thetorsion damper 12. The spring window 24 is intended to receive a springelement of the torsion damper 12. The two fastening portions are formedopposite one another in circumferential direction at a spring window 24.The fastening portions 16 a are connected to one another at the liningspring 16 via the supporting portion 16 b. This supporting portionserves, in addition, to connect the spring segments 16 c to thefastening portions 16 a.

Supporting portion 16 b is formed radially outside of the spring window24 and runs radially outside of the spring window 24. In particular, atorsional effect on the lining spring 16 is reduced substantially byarranging the fastening portions 16 a so as to be spaced apart incircumferential direction.

The spring window 24 is limited radially outwardly by a web 26. The webis overlapped by the supporting portion 16 b completely incircumferential direction and at least partially in radial direction. Asa result of this overlapping, the lining spring can support forcesacting axially on the spring segments 16 c substantially better oppositethe drive carrier disk 14. In particular, a sagging or buckling of thelining spring 16 is prevented. It will be seen that the radialoverlapping corresponds to approximately two thirds of the web 26, butat least to fifty percent of the web 26.

The lining spring 16 is shown again in FIG. 4 as an individual part. Itwill be seen that the lining spring 16 has three spring segments 16 c.These spring segments 16 c are arranged adjacent to one another incircumferential direction and so as to be connected to one another viathe supporting portion 16 b and are divided or separated from oneanother via cutouts 28.

The spring segments 16 c are referred to hereinafter as first springsegment 30, second spring segment 32 and third spring segment 34. Thefirst spring segment 30 and the third spring segment 34 are formed onthe outer side in circumferential direction, the second spring element32 is arranged in circumferential direction between the first springsegment 30 and the third spring segment 34 and is referred to as locatedon the inside in circumferential direction.

The three spring segments 30, 32, 34 are connected to one another viathe supporting portion 16 b. Spring segments 30, 32, 34 act inconsecutive sequence during an axial compression of the friction linings18. The first spring segment 30 acts first, followed subsequently by thethird spring segment 34 and lastly by the second spring element 34. Thismeans that initially the first spring segment 30, then the third springsegment 34 and lastly the second spring segment 34 exert an axial forceon the friction linings 18.

The spring segments 30, 32, 34 form working surfaces which cooperatewith a respective contact surface of the friction linings 18. Thefriction linings 18 form contact surfaces 36 at their side facing thelining spring 16. The friction lining 18 a with its contact surface 36 ais arranged on a transmission side in the installed condition of theclutch disk, the friction lining 18 b with its contact surface 36 b isarranged on the engine side.

The first spring segment forms a first working surface 30 a which facescontact surface 36 a of friction lining 18 a. Further, the first springsegment 30 forms a second working surface 30 b which is associated withthe contact surface 36 b of friction lining 18 b. The first workingsurface 30 a and the second working surface 30 b form an axial offsetwhich is shown schematically in FIG. 5. The axial offset between twoworking surfaces is provided by a bending portion 38 with bending linesor bending edges 40 and is designated as working distance 42. Inparticular, between working surfaces 30 a and 30 b, this is bendingportion 38 a and bending lines 40 a. According to FIG. 5, the variousworking surfaces of spring segments 16 c and 30, 32, 34, respectively,are arranged so as to be structured in planes to which Roman numeralsI-VI are assigned.

Working surface 30 a is located on plane II and working surface 30 b islocated on plane I. A working distance 42 a is provided in this way.Working distance 42 a is the largest so that bending portion 38 a exertsa first force component during an axial compression.

A spring segment advantageously has three or more working surfaces andat least two bending portions.

Further, the first spring segment has a third working surface 30 c whichis arranged on a plane III and has a working distance 42 b which issmaller than working distance 42 a. During a continued compression ofthe friction linings 18, bending portion 38 b acts with its bendinglines 40 b after a delay relative to bending portion 38 a.

With further compression of the friction linings 18, the working area 34a comes in abutting contact with contact surface 36 a, while workingsurface 34 b is already in abutting contact with contact surface 36 b.Accordingly, a bending portion 38 c acts with its bending lines 40 c.Working distance 42 c is reduced still further relative to workingdistance 42 b.

As the compression proceeds, a working surface 34 c of the third springsegment 34 makes abutting contact with contact surface 36 b of thefriction lining. A bending portion 38 d with bending lines 40 d isactivated in this way. Working distance 42 d is reduced relative toworking distance 42 c. It will be seen that bending portions 38 comeinto effect depending on working surfaces associated with them withdecreasing working distance 42.

Working surface 34 a is arranged on plane IV, working surface 34 b isarranged on plane I, working surface 34 c is arranged on plane VI andworking surface 34 d is arranged on plane V.

Over the course of further compression, working surface 32 a comes incontact with contact surface 36 a of the friction lining 18 a on thetransmission side. Working surfaces 32 b and 32 c of the second springsegment 32 lie on plane I and are connected to or arranged at contactsurface 36 b of friction lining 18 b from the outset and permanently.Bending portions 38 e and 38 f with bending lines 40 e and 40 f actsimultaneously because of the same plane arrangement of working surfaces32 b and 32 c. Working distance 42 e and working distance 42 f areidentical.

The last to act is bending portion 38 g which is formed between workingsurfaces 34 c and 34 d with its bending lines 40 g. Working distance 42g is the smallest compared with the other working distances.

It will be seen that the individual spring segments 30, 32 and 34 withtheir bending portions 38 successively provide an active force. Inparticular, each of the bending portions has its own spring constant.The spring constants of the bending portions acting initially are lowerthan those which follow. The curve of the spring constants may bedescribed essentially as rising. In this way, an initial flat rise inforce is reached which increases progressively and finally rises steeplyso as ultimately to transmit a large engine torque.

The spring segment 30 located on the outside in circumferentialdirection acts first, followed by the third spring segment 34 located onthe outside in circumferential direction and lastly by the second springsegment 32 located on the inside in circumferential direction. It willfurther be seen that bending lines 40 a, 40 b, 40 c, 40 d, 40 g areformed in a straight line, and bending lines 40 e and 40 f are curved ina circular manner. Accordingly, a substantially increased springconstant is provided which makes it possible to transmit the high enginetorque.

In particular, a torsional effect on the lining spring 16 can betransmitted to the fastening portions 16 a substantially better as aresult of the incipient force transmission through the spring segmentslocated on the outside in circumferential direction, and the load on thesupporting portion 16 b is minimized. This supporting portion 16 b wouldbe more heavily loaded, for example, if the spring segment 32 arrangedin the middle in circumferential direction were the first to act at thestart of the transmission of force.

Friction lining 18 is only fastened to the first segment 30 viafastening elements, particularly rivets, which engage in fasteningopenings of the friction lining 18 and in fastening openings 44 a and 44b of the first spring segment 30. Fastening openings 44 a are arrangedat the first working surface 30 a, and the second fastening openings 44b are arranged at the second working surface 30 b. Bending portion 38 ahas radially extending bending lines 40 a. In this way, duringcompression of the friction linings in axial direction an offset offriction lining 18 a relative to friction lining 18 b is achieved, whichoffset extends in circumferential direction. The lining is rotated incircumferential direction as a result of the offset extending incircumferential direction and accordingly does not experience anyradially outwardly directed tension. Fastening openings 44 are formedonly at the first spring segment 30 so that a holding function isrealized and the further spring segments can be configured in asubstantially freer and more optimal manner. This holding function isentirely sufficient because a fastening through the frictional forcebetween the working surfaces of the lining spring and the contactsurfaces of the friction linings is sufficiently high to effectivelytransmit the introduced force.

As has already been mentioned, the spring segments are separated fromone another through radially extending cutouts 28. The cutouts 28extending in radial direction are substantially drop-shaped at their endon the supporting portion side. This can be seen particularly clearly inFIGS. 3A and B. The drop-shaped portion 28 a is flat on one side on thecircumferential direction side and bulge-shaped on the oppositecircumferential side. In particular, a radius 28 c of contour 28 b isgreater than a radius 28 d of the opposite circumferential side ofcontour 28 b. This is shown again in an enlarged view in FIG. 3A.

Running along the contour 28 b, the radius can continuously increase ordecrease in particular, for example, depending on the direction. Thecontinuous change in radius can rise monotonically or fall monotonicallyin particular. In this way, particularly the points impinged by bendingloading of the bending lines 40 b and by a torsional loading of thespring portion are shifted away from one another so that the load on theindividual point is reduced. Radius 28 c decreases continuously alongdirection 28 e. Values 28 d and c are selected as examples for purposesof illustration.

Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodimentthereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutionsand changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and intheir operation, may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expresslyintended that all combinations of those elements and/or method stepswhich perform substantially the same function in substantially the sameway to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention.Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/ormethod steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosedform or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any otherdisclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a generalmatter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limitedonly as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

REFERENCE CHARACTERS

10 clutch disk

12 torsion damper

14 drive carrier disk

16 lining spring

16 a fastening portion

16 b supporting portion

16 c spring segment

18 a,b friction lining

20 fastening elements/rivet

22 fastening opening

24 spring window

26 web

28 cutout

28 a drop-shaped portion

28 b contour

28 c,d radius

28 e running direction

30 first spring segment

30 a first working surface of the first spring segment

30 b second working surface of the first spring segment

30 c third working surface of the first spring segment

32 second spring segment

32 a first working surface of the second spring segment

32 b second working surface of the second spring segment

32 c third working surface of the second spring segment

34 third spring segment

34 a first working surface of the third spring segment

34 b second working surface of the third spring segment

34 c third working surface of the third spring segment

34 d fourth working surface of the third spring segment

36 a,b contact surface

38,a,b,c,d,e,f,g bending portion

40,a,b,c,d,e,f,g bending line

42,a,b,c,d,e,f,g working distance

44,a,b fastening opening

I,II,III,IV,V,VI planes

What is claimed is:
 1. A clutch disk (10) for a motor vehiclecomprising: at least two axially opposed friction linings (18); a liningspring (16); and a drive carrier disk (14); wherein the lining spring(16) has at least one fastening portion (16 a), a supporting portion (16b) and a plurality of spring segments (16 c) arranged adjacent to oneanother in circumferential direction, the plurality of spring segments(16 c) are connected by the supporting portion (16 b) and arrangedradially outside at the supporting portion (16 b) of the lining spring(16), the fastening portion (16 a) is arranged radially inside at thesupporting portion (16 b); and wherein the lining spring (16) is asingle circumferentially extending unitary member comprising at leastone radially extending cutout (28) that defines the plurality ofcircumferentially adjacent spring segments (16 c); wherein the cutout(28) comprises an end toward the supporting portion (16 b), the end ofthe cutout (28) on the supporting portion side is asymmetricallydrop-shaped.
 2. The clutch disk (10) according to claim 1, wherein thelining spring (16) comprises three spring segments (16 c).
 3. The clutchdisk (10) according to claim 2, wherein the three spring segments (16 c)have a spring force and wherein the spring force of a spring segment (16c) located in the center in circumferential direction is greater thanthe spring force of a spring segment (16 c) located on the outside incircumferential direction.
 4. The clutch disk (10) according to claim 3,wherein initially a spring segment (16 c) located on the outside incircumferential direction acts on the friction linings, subsequentlyanother spring segment (16 c) located on the outside in circumferentialdirection acts on the friction linings and, thereafter, a spring segment(16 c) located in the center in circumferential direction acts on thefriction linings.
 5. The clutch disk (10) according to claim 2, whereineach of the spring segments (16 c) has at least a first and a secondworking surface (30 a, 30 b, 32 a, 32 b, 32 c, 34 a, 34 b, 34 c, 34 d)for contacting the axially opposed friction linings (18), the first andsecond working surfaces (30 a, 30 b, 32 a, 32 b, 32 c, 34 a, 34 b, 34 c,34 d) forming an axial working distance (42) relative to one another,and wherein an axial working distance (42) of a spring segment (32)located on the inside in circumferential direction is less than theaxial working distance of a spring segment (30, 34) located on theoutside in circumferential direction.
 6. The clutch disk (10) accordingto claim 2, additionally comprising fastening openings (44) forfastening the friction linings (18), the fastening openings (44) beingformed only at one individual spring segment (16 c) of the lining spring(16).
 7. The clutch disk (10) according to claim 2, wherein one of thespring segments comprises a first and a second working surface andwherein a first fastening opening (44 a) is formed at the first workingsurface (30 a) and a second fastening opening (44 b) is formed at thesecond working surface (30 b).
 8. The clutch disk (10) according toclaim 2, wherein one of the spring segments comprises a bending line(40) extending in a radial direction.
 9. The clutch disk (10) accordingto claim 2, wherein the radially extending cutout (28) is formed betweentwo spring segments (16 c) of the lining spring (16) which are arrangedadjacent to one another in circumferential direction.
 10. The clutchdisk (10) according to claim 9, wherein the drop shape is flat at acircumferential side and is bulge-shaped at an opposite circumferentialside.